TRUTH BE TOLD

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Air Force General blows whistle on Obama, but media deaf

Air Force General blows whistle on Obama, but media deaf

General
Shelton told lawmakers that he was pressured to be less than honest by
the White House when he gives testimony before Congress.

Credits:

DoD File Photo

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"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?""If an Air Force general blows the whistle on the Obama White House, does anyone in the media hear the corruption?"

A United States Air Force general is blowing the whistle on another
alleged White House scandal, but few in the news media seem to be
listening.

According to General William Shelton, the commanding officer of U.S.
Air Force's space command, he was told to alter his testimony before the
House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Strategic Forces regarding an
Obama White House attempt to award a defense contract to the
Lightsquared firm.

Lightsquared is a high-tech company doing business in Virginia that's
owned by billionaire Philip Falcone, an Obama friend and campaign
contributor.

According to the National Legal and Policy Center, Phil Falcone
had visited the White House and made large cash contributions to the
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Soon after, the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) granted his LightSquared a highly
unusual waiver that allows the company to build out a national 4G
wireless network on the cheap.

Republican lawmakers say that after Falcon's visit, the Obama White
House allegedly tried to push through a Lightsquared's proposed wireless
network regardless of the objections emanating from military commanders
who believed the project could disrupt key U.S. satellite systems.

At a hearing on Thursday, lawmakers on strategic forces
subcommittee, especially the Republican chairman, Michael Turner,
requested that the House Oversight Committee investigate if Falcone's
company garnered any type of special treatment from the White House or
from Obama appointees.
The hearing came after a report by a blogger on a news and commentary
web site alleged that the Obama White House pressed General Shelton to
downplay his concerns about the proposed Lightsquared system.

"Under extremely unusual circumstances, the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) recently granted a company called LightSquared the
right to use wireless spectrum to build out a national 4G wireless
network. LightSquared will get the spectrum for a song, while its
competitors have to spend billions," according to NLPC's Ken Boehm.

President Obama's underlings deny any wrongdoing, and officials at
Lightsquared denied the charges that it is receiving preferential
treatment from President Obama or his staff.
Republican staff members on the subcommittee say that the decorated
General Shelton told the lawmakers that Obama administration officials
urged the general to describe Lightsquared's system favorably during his
congressional testimony.
During the hearing, General Shelton told committee members that the
wireless broadband network manufactured by Lightsquared would have a
negative impact on the current Global Positioning System (GPS) relied on
by both the U.S. military and private sector users of the GPS.
General Shelton told the committee members: Tests with Defense
Department experts, civilian agencies and others "indicate the
LightSquared terrestrial network operating in the originally proposed
manner poses significant challenges for almost all GPS users."
The general insisted through his spokesperson on Friday that he had
not "watered down his testimony due to alleged White House pressure."
According to a source familiar with the Lightsquared probe, many
officers at the Pentagon are highly suspicious of the President, the
White House staff and even Obama's appointees at the Defense Department.
Another occurrence being probed is that the allegation that
Lightsquared at first offered to sell satellite phones on its network,
however the Federal Communications Commission allegedly issued a special
waiver to the firm thus allowing sell terrestrial-based wireless
service to other companies.
Department of Defense officials. such as General Shelton, in the past
have raised concerns about interference with GPS users, and the FCC
would then promise to disallow a firm to begin operating their network
until after intense testing is carried out to ensure there is no
disruption to satellite navigation.
The head of the FCC declined to appear before the committee on
Thursday, which the chairman, Turner, called an "affront" to the panel.
Meanwhile, Falcone and Lightsquared executives are taking the
offensive by giving Obama-friendly journalists at Politico exclusive
interviews.
LightSquared CEO. Sanjiv Ahuja, and its billionaire backer, Phil
Falcone, denied all allegations that the wireless company used its
political pull with the Obama administration to secure approval of its
business plans with the Defense Department.
“It’s just very disappointing that people are not seeing the facts
here, and [that] this has become a real political issue,” Falcone, a
senior executive at the hedge fund firm Harbinger Capital, said during
his Politico interview. “It’s not a function of being a Democrat or a
Republican, it’s about trying to be an innovator. … It’s very
disappointing and frustrating that we are getting stonewalled like this.
… I kinda scratch my head every single day and say I can’t believe this
is happening.”

Falcone and Ahuja denied receiving special treatment
from the White House or the FCC in their ongoing quest to become the
nation’s first wholesale wireless broadband provider, according to
Politico.

But some observers see things differently. Mike Baker, a political
strategist and a former military officer, believes that this
investigation needs to be taken to wherever or whomever it leads. He's
like to see a special prosecutor appointed.
"This is a very important national security issue, not some
politically-motivated witch hunt like the Valerie Plame-CIA case. But we
all know that with the news media protecting this president, the
chances of anything being done are slim or none," he quipped.
"First of all, we know what motivates politicians and big business.
In the middle you have a career officer who is a four-star general. Whom
would you believe? What's in it for General Shelton to make up
stories?" Baker asks.
"Let's hope General Shelton sticks to his guns and that more Pentagon
and Justice Department officials decide enough is enough from this
administration," Baker added.